CO129-590-11 Commission of Enquiry into irregularities in Immigration Departments 22-4-1941 - 19-12-1941 — Page 247

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each day. This was due to the fact that the security deposit refunding

section had been moved over to the new branch.

The various agencies were federated under the control of the General

agency. In this way, we dealt with two or three representatives of the

General Agency in comparison with former times when we had to deal with

some forty or fifty representatives of different firms of public organi-

zations. Since the establishment of the General Agency, the Immigration

Office has been relieved of a considerable amount of work and congestion

In former days, representatives of the different agencies were permitted

Behind the counter. Many roamed about from one desk to another, picking

up papers and going through them as though they were public property.

They used to go to the shroffs' department to pay for and collect their

permits and, on numerous occasions, they blocked the passage way and

pushed those in front of them against the shroffs' desk, which made work

very difficult. I may explain that we had no proper means of dividing

off the shroffs' department from the rest of the office, which we all

agreed was necessary for the safety of cash and permits. I am of the

firm opinion that the establishment of the General Agency has proved

beneficial so far as the Immigration Office is concerned.

Under the conditions which we worked, I hold that, if we were able

to show fifty per cent efficiency we were doing remarkably well. Up to

weeks only a few days ago, we did not have a chance to settle down but now

that we have put things into working order of a more or less normal type

(though I might add that we could do better if we are given a little

more time to put things in ship-shape order), things are working more

smoothly. We have been able to put into effect part of our plans for a

workable system which eventually should prove to be very efficient.

We

are getting through considerably more work that we formerly did and

whereas it used to take between a week or ten days to issue a permit,

sometimes longer, we now take about 48 hours. The number of permits

issued up to the present (5 p.m. March 25th) are:-

From December 27, 1940, to March 25, 1941:

6 months

•

2 years

4 years

10 years

1 year

38,600

24,275

18,525

19,100

1,675

In addition 12,095 old forms were issued.

The above figures relate to the Head office only.